Some horrible teenager has given my address to get out of paying for a train ticket

I see the OP is a one-post wonder, so we’re unlikely to get any more information. However, I’m leaning more and more towards this being a scam. Would the letter really go to the parent and not the teenager? Also, surely it doesn’t just say “your son” rather than “your son David Harvey” or whatever. What if you had three sons? If it doesn’t mention a name, it’s a scam - and if it does, it shouldn’t be too hard to prove there’s no such person.

Could possibly be a scam. If you are going to call them, check the companies number online to see if it matches the letter! Same with any email addresses etc.

Always best to cross check and make sure the details match what's showing online.

The problem is that, legally, you aren't, allowed to open a letter that isn't addressed to you; but if a letter does arrive to your address with a totally unknown name on it - none of your family, not the previous occupants, none of your neighbours - it isn't something that you would want to just say "Ah, somebody has made a mistake" and write 'address not known' and pop it back in the post box.

That might have been sufficient in decades gone by, in more trusting and less corporate/governmental bullying times, but in these days of widespread scams AND companies/authorities that levy fines doing so aggressively and threateningly, ignoring your protests, assuming you must be lying and not really caring who pays their fines, as long as somebody cops for it, I would argue that somebody sending mail to my address - where I have lived for 20 years - to a non-existent resident is very likely doing so as a result of an attempted crime or corporate blunder that could very likely end up with me suffering for it.

...partner says we shouldn’t engage and should just write return to sender not at this address on the letter...

Yes! This always works for letters demanding payment. Makes it all go away. No downside ever at all.

Idiot.

OP, yes, you need to ring them.

I had a similar experience when I first moved house. The previous owners hosted foreign students and, for about the first year or so, I kept getting bills from various phone companies in the names of these various students. I just binned them to start with but then I started getting threats of bailiff action. It took a number of tedious phone calls to sort it out but I found that, once I had explained the situation, the various companies were quite reasonable and stopped pestering me. It should be quite easy to prove that this person is not related and doesn't live with you. BTW how do you know it was a teenager?

send an email so you have a record.

Who are they going to collect a debt from though? The OP’s non-existent son?

ActualCannibalShiaLeBeouf · Today 11:49
If you don't know them how did they know your name and address?”

This. Of course they could make up an address but they’re extremely unlikely to have also made up your name and got it right. It’s someone you know.
Do you know anyone with a teenaged son?

Makes you wonder if there's actually anyone who gives their real address when stopped for non payment on a train.

This.

You need to call them.

Ah, she didn't say that, she said "A have got a letter from the train company telling me that my son, whom I’ve never heard of, tried to dodge a ticket and now I need to pay for it" which would be a weird way to word it if it was addressed to the "son"

@Al991 Post the letter, minus the name and address (even if it is not yours) on Railforums.co.uk - they will tell you exactly who to reply to and exactly what to write.

Email them if possible and just tell them it’s a fictitious son. It could be a scam or it could be something that happens a lot!

It wasn’t addressed to the OP though.

Isn't phoning and saying it's fake exactly what someone could do if they were trying to get away with it!

Should the onus of proof be on the companies? They should have to prove it was you / your child. And just having a name and address that someone said was theirs shouldn't be seen as proof

Which rail company? They will keep writing and depending on who it is, a claim may be processed through court.

your best bet is to send it back - and say not known at this address.

usually though, they cross reference addresses on a database but if it’s someone under 18 then I suppose they’d not be on a database.

@MothralovesGojira are you sure they do an address and ID check? I can’t think how that could work if someone says they can’t pay for a ticket and don’t have ID or proof of address on them. In our case they would have had to have ID/address showing that they live at an IT business! It’s a very small business and the name given had no connection with us.

I had this at work - a letter arrived addressed to someone who didn’t work there (as sometimes happens) so I had opened it and it was about a charge for not having a train ticket, sounds exactly what you have had. I phoned the general number on the letter and explained. It seems to happen regularly - they cancelled the charge and we heard no more about it. Phone and tell them it’s a fake - should be easily sorted.

@Al991
If you've been given a named person and an email address/direct phone no. who is dealing with the matter such as the railway company's prosecution dept then email them or call them to tell them that your address has been given to them fraudulently. Follow up any verbal conversations with an email. Lots of railway company's now have dedicated revenue fraud sections and they want the correct person to pay.
What is most worrying OP is that in order to get a penalty notice sent to your address the fare evader must know you well enough to pass the address and I.D. check made at the time. It's in your interest to get this sorted sooner rather than later.

Oh, and don't bother calling them. They want something in writing for the file.

I have had something similar; someone registered a car to my address then didn't tax it. I wrote a short letter that stated that this person was not known at this address, that I believed the registration of the car was fraudulent, I was unable to help them further so I expected them to update their records and send no further correspondence to my address.

Put the letter in the envelope, taped it shut again, crossed out the address and wrote "Return to Sender".

Never heard anything from them again.

Going against the grain here but I would call AND send a recorded delivery letter. I used to work in a similar environment and calls were never logged properly but recorded delivery made a difference.

In my old place of work bailiffs had been sent to the incorrect people before due to them not replying to letters about driving in a bus lane

I used to do this as a homeless teen. Just give random names and address's. Didn't realise people still done it.

I wouldn’t recommend returning to sender as you don’t know who will deal with it and whether the records will be amended. I would contact them to clarify what has happened.

Pps made a good point about having a written record - I would email.